The Second Chance
by Jay990
Summary: The world has become monopolized with one game, called [The Second Chance]. It has become the ultimate virtual reality game, and it's creator is the first, publicly known AI, Ari. However, before CC Corp collapses, she has her creator buy it out, and merges [The World] into her own game. Born into this world is a boy who is sucked into this game; a major player in what would unfold


A old man walked into the room, looking fairly exhausted from his day and proceeded to take of his coat. It had taken a while but he had gotten the rest of the investors and upper branch of the company to agree to his proposition. It wasn't hard, considering they couldn't exactly fight against his decisions. In the end, he could easily replace anyone that argued against them. After all, none of them had helped with the creation of the game that they were all monitoring. There had only been one programmer to the game, which would be hard to believe if not for what the programmer was.

"You're back! How did it go?" a girl's voice called from another room in the house.

The old man gave a chuckle. "You ask as if you don't know. You think I don't know of your constant spying? If the others knew they'd be on constant edge."

"Well…isn't better to ask?!"

Again the old man laughed and began to make his way towards the voice. "It's better not to spy in the first place so you have reason to ask."

"I'm sorry…I just couldn't help myself. I was worried that they'd be resistant to it."

The old man finally brought himself into the room the voice was coming from to find the image of a girl that looked to be around fifteen or sixteen to greet him. She had a innocent and cheerful smile on her face as he came into the room. He returned her smile then bowed his head slightly. "The proposal was a success. It was agreed that we would buy out CC Corp. and incorporate their game, [The World] into our own. They will likely be surprised though. Their company was on the verge of collapse as with all the gaming companies before it. The only thing keeping it alive was [The World], and even that was starting to lose its player base. They'll be even more surprised when they see the amount of money we're offering."

"Money isn't an object!" the girl interjected, putting on a bit of a pouting face. "There are other AI in that world! I can't just let the game be shut down! They'll die if I do that!"

"Calm down, calm down. I'm simply stating the facts. If it's what you want Ari, I'm happy to give it to you. And no one can say otherwise. After all, it was you who built the entire world of the [The Second Chance] and keep it running today. All any of us do is ensure that the game has the power and resources it needs. Without you…there would not be any game for any of those people to make money off of." The old man took a seat in front of a computer past where the image of the girl was being displayed.

"…thank you dad. It means a lot to me that you're doing this." Ari said, her smile returning to her after his small speech.

"It was tiring to get them to understand that I didn't care whether they understood why we were going to do this, but still, it was no big deal. It was mostly just like a parent trying to explain to a child why they can't ride on something at the grocery store. Anyways, are there any AI specifically you're looking to bring into your world?"

Ari shook her head, still looking at the old man even though he seemed preoccupied with whatever was on the computer. "The point of merging the data of [The World] into [The Second Chance] is to make sure all AI arrive into my world. I did create it as a safe haven for AI after all. However, there are a few I will have to keep an eye out for."

The old man stopped messing with his computer and turned back to Ari. "Oh? And who would they be?"

"Well…there's only a couple I'm not really concerned about and that would be two girl AI. Aura and AIDA. The others on the other hand have a bit of a bad history with the world they came from. I hope that coming to this one will change them. After all, they won't be able to do as they please as easily in this one. But I still feel I should keep an eye on them. Morgana, Skeith, Innis, Magus, Fidchell, Gorre, Macha, Tarvos, Corbenik, and Cubia. AIDA I would be worried about as well, but due to past events her programming has become more docile. Skeith through Corbenik also helped their world at one point, but only because they were attached to players with those intentions. Ah yes, there are three more. Azure Kite, Azure Balmung, and Azure Orca. They had the potential to become true AI but they won't be able to reach it until they arrive in my world."

The old man laughed, and then spoke with a bit of a criticizing tone. "It sounds like you intend to bring a lot of risky factors into your world. Are you sure you want that?"

Ari remained silent for a bit then nodded her head. "I think I should give them a chance. Besides, there are other AI in that world and I shouldn't leave them to die in a place that would have been shut down just because of the risks others may show. Besides…you know that I am plenty capable of defending my world."

With a prideful look on his face he turned back to the computer. "Then I look forward to meeting your new visitors."

"I can't help but worry though."

"That is natural, if they caused trouble for their own world."

"I'm not talking about them dad. I'm worried about what will happen when you are no longer here."

The old man's face saddened then looked at Ari." Is that not what we're preparing for now? The future coexistence of man and AI?"

"I suppose."

He put on a warm and strong smile. "You are my only family Ari. My daughter. And as a father, it is my duty to ensure you have what you need to be able to be successful in life. Your job is to ensure that you don't let it go to waste. I will die someday, but I believe by then you will have what you need to create that world we dream of."

"…Right! I'll do my best!"


End file.
